The Image of the Cross

Nestled deep in the Rocky Mountains of North America stands a rugged peak. For nine months each year it lies robed in snow, indistinguishable from a dozen others surrounding it.

But as summer arrives and the air warms, the mountain slowly sheds its blanket of white, revealing a massive emblem. High above the neighboring valleys, an 1100 foot vertical gouge bisects a 400 foot horizontal groove, forming an almost perfect image of the cross of Christ. This sight is so impressive that famous American artist Thomas Moran visited the mountain to paint it in 1875. The peak is aptly named “The Mountain of the Holy Cross.”

In winter, only an expert could single out this particular peak from those around it. But in summer, any child could look at these mountains and easily choose “the one with the cross on it.” The only real difference in this mountain and the all the others is the enormous image etched into its face.

We spend much of our lives creating a thick layer of “achievements.” We climb the career ladder, push our kids to excel, move to a better neighborhood, pursue another degree, all in the hope that we will somehow become more popular, wealthy, powerful, or influential. Like a thick blanket of snow our conquests and achievements cover us, deposited one tiny flake at a time until we are totally obscured. For many of us, self- esteem and self-worth come from what we have accomplished or how much we can buy or who we know.

Yet one day we will awaken to a new reality, an endless day in which all our values will be turned upside down. All that we have done, said, created, bought, and built will be brushed away, melted like snow under the gaze of our eternal Father. Deep within each one of us he will seek the one thing, the only thing he truly cares about: the imprint of the cross, the mark of his Son.

Nothing else matters to Him. And on that day, nothing else will matter to you. Do you possess the one thing that really matters?